Another Blue Sky Day
10th March 2023
Yet another stunning blue sky day here at Creag Meagaidh. Today my journey took me into Coire Ardair and The Window. It was another cold day in the shade, but lower down on sunny aspects the warmth of the sun was definitely thawing some of the superficial covering of snow. Surface snow temperature in the shade at an altitude of 940m was a decidedly chilly at a minus 13.4 degrees Celsius.
Below a view of Coire Ardair and the Post Face with The Window on the RHS of the photo. The path up to the Loch is pretty much clear of snow.
Below a closer view of the coire, Lochain a Choire was frozen over and there is some ice on the routes on the Post Face.
There were a small number of climbers around, this team heading for Stag Horn Gully.
Under foot conditions up towards The Window were very variable – soft, dry, loose snow, breakable crust, hard & soft windslab and neve.
Historical avalanche debris noted on a North East aspect in the Inner Corrie. The block on the RHS of the photo was about the size of a very old TV and had clearly travelled a way down the mountain side leaving a trench in its wake.
Plenty of clues underfoot that the snowpack remains unstable. Note the ‘cracking’. (Photo taken on a Northerly aspect at 950m). Instabilities persist on all aspects over 900m created by wind transported snow and prolonged cold temperatures developing weaknesses within the snowpack.
And finally, a view from The Window looking East.
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